asset

It’s nearly a year since the fateful and desperate day when we formed our campaign to save our park, and this park friends group to run it. Thanks to all of you, we still have a park to use and for our children to play in. It also means that we are holding our AGM shortly: please join us for a drink and to talk about our park, at 8pm, at the Chatterton Arms on Wednesday 24th February!
In this newsletter:

We are delighted to announce (for those of you who have not been on the brickfield recently) that we have finished planting both the Homesdale road entrance and the biodiversity hedge (along the chain link fence).

Thanks to everyone who made it happen! Personally speaking, when I first read that we should plant the hedge on Dr Judy’s biodiversity report, I never imagined that a year later we would have actually planted ourselves a hedge! I wasn’t sure we’d even have our recreation ground to put it on either!

Lots of thanks to Stephen Tickner at the landscape group, who enabled it to happen (and helped us muddle though learning how to be a friends group). The hedge planting was done by a volunteer group that Stephen organised, called Pulse. They are committed to helping long term unemployed back into work.

Unfortunately, as the brick pit was filled with crushed and compacted rubble (and other stuff, see our history page) it is hard work to dig the holes to plant, and it is great that people put in the effort for the community – thanks again!

We’ve arranged two planting sessions to put in all the little trees we’ve been sent! The sessions are on Monday (14th) and Saturday (16th December), and they’re also on Facebook here and here)

It will be exciting to see our plans to add diversity to our park actually take shape, and for our collective effort to make a little change for generations to come.

Our packs include holly, hawthorn, dog rose and hazel from the Woodland Trust, and Wayfaring tree, guelder rose, and dogwood (among others) from OVO energy. For the entrance on Homesdale Road, we’ve also got some ornamental dogwood.

The hedge is following expert recommendation, this hedge will enhance the biodiversity value of our park, not just with the little trees themselves, but by providing food and (when bigger) homes for our bats, bumble bees and birdlife. They will also give shelter for other plants and flowers that insects, like butterflies and grasshoppers, will love.

This is one of our projects to help us, as a community keep our park, as it provides a visible sign how much it is valued and used by the community. If you have any ideas you have for our park, please feel free to fill in the survey (http://friendsofhavelockrec.org/our-action-plan/)or just email us:

This summer, Google updated their street view of Homesdale Road, and our notice board now appears!

google homesdale rd entrance notice board aug15

What’s really good about this, is that it means, that any Whitehall official, Bromley planning officer or speculative developer can see that we care about our park and that it is loved. Also, the position of the parked car hides the broken railings, if not the somewhat drunken parking notice! Thanks also to people like Emma and Rebecca, (forgive me if I’ve missed anyone here) there are several notices on it, showing that we’ve been organising events and our park is not “under used” as was suggested when it was proposed as a site for building La Fontaine.

We had a great time painting bird boxes and making insect feeding stations and insect hotels!

Even the weather smiled on us! Many thanks to Emma for organising the event, and Caroline and Sandy for helping her, especially as Sandy didn’t feel very well. Sandy and Emma also worked out how to make insect hotels and feeding stations (I’d never heard of either!)

Mark has very kindly collected suitable, untreated, wood for us from The Mayflower project (they are rebuilding the famous ship) in Harwich:

“I’ve got the back of the car full of offcuts from The Mayflower in Harwich. Loads of nice untreated oak for bat, bird and bug boxes.” (FB post, 11th July)

We are very proud to announce that Havelock Recreation ground has been added to the List of Assets of Community Value!

Only 15 places have been successfully registered in the London Borough of Bromley (see the photo of the other places) since the Localism Act came into effect in 2012.

The Localism Act required councils to keep a List of Assets of Community Value, and it also gave the Community Right to Bid; it means that when listed land is disposed of, the community has the right to a ‘moratorium period’ (seems to be six months) to decide if they want to bid for their asset. Importantly for us, it also demonstrates to government bodies and potential developers, the strength of local feeling about this park.

(a montage of photos from our recent Big Lunch event)

What the internet says about the Community Asset Register, the Community Right to Bid, under the Localism Act.:

Community Right to Bid and the Community Asset Register

As part of the Localism Act local authorities are required to maintain a list of assets of community value which have been nominated by the local community.

A building or land is an asset of community value if its main use is to further the social wellbeing or interests of a local community for example a local village shop, community centre or playing fields.

Community right to bid

The Community right to bid came into force in September 2012. The Community right-to-bid allows communities to nominate buildings and land that they consider to be of value to the community, to be included on a local authority maintained list. If any of the assets on the register are put up for sale, the community is given a window of opportunity to express an interest in purchasing the asset, and another window of opportunity to bid. from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/5959/1896534.pdf

The Community Right to Bid allows communities and parish councils to nominate buildings or land for listing by the local authority as an asset of community value. An asset can be listed if its principal use furthers (or has recently furthered) their community’s social well-being or social interests (which include cultural, sporting or recreational interests) and is likely to do so in the future. When a listed asset comes to be sold, a moratorium on the sale (of up to six months) may be invoked, providing local community groups with a better chance to raise finance, develop a business and to make a bid to buy the asset on the open market. from: http://mycommunity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/LOCALITY-BID_UNDERSTANDING.pdf

How the Community Right to Bid will work

The Legislation

How the Community Right to Bid works is set out in the Localism Act and Regulations: With the Community Right to Bid, Local Authorities must keep a ‘List of Assets of Community Value’; the legislation sets out in detail the process they must enter into and what information they must include. The legislation also outlines the definition of an asset of community value, what groups can legitimately nominate, the appeals process for land owners, timescales for groups interested in buying land or property on the list, and compensation available to the owners of land or property on the list.

What is an Asset of Community Value?

A building or other land is an asset of community value if its main use has recently been or is presently used to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community and could do so in the future. The Localism Act states that “social interests” include cultural, recreational and sporting interests. The regulations list a number of situations where land or buildings are exempted from inclusion on the list or operation of the moratorium. These include homes, hotels, assets being transferred between kindred businesses, and Church of England land holdings.

Who can nominate Assets of Community Value

A number of community organisations can nominate land and buildings for inclusion on the list: parish councils, neighbourhood forums (as defined in Neighbourhood Planning regulations), unconstituted community groups of at least 21 members, not-for-private-profit organisations (e.g. charities). Community organisations also have to have a local connection, which means their activities are wholly or partly concerned with the area, or with a neighbouring authority’s area.

Moratorium Periods

The Community Right to Bid does not give the right of first refusal to community organisations to buy an asset that they successfully nominate for inclusion on the local authority’s list. What it does do is give time for them to put together the funding necessary to bid to buy the asset on the open market. If an owner wants to sell property/land that is on the list, they must tell the local authority. If the nominating body is keen to develop a bid, they can then call for the local authority to trigger a moratorium period, during which time the owner cannot proceed to sell the asset. There are two moratorium periods. Both start from the date the owner of the asset tells the local authority of their intention to sell. The first is the interim moratorium period, which is 6 weeks, during which time a community organisation can decide if they want to be considered as a potential bidder. The other is a full moratorium period, which is six months, during which a community organisation can develop a proposal and raise the money required to bid to buy the asset. The regulations list some situations where the Moratorium will not be applied, even when it is an Asset of Community Value on the list. These exceptions include the sale of assets from one partner or another (for example in a divorce).

Funding

In August 2012, the government announced grant funding which community organisations can apply for in order to make use of the Community Right to Bid or Community Asset Transfer. The Social Investment Business is managing the £16 million grants programme ‘Community Ownership and Management of Assets’ on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Thanks to the many of you who came along and made it a wonderful day! And to Rebecca for all that organising, to Stephen Tickner for helping us set it up and just being there, to Michelle for all those diet-busting delicious cakes (myself, I had too many of those), Cassie for the Tombola, Emma and the local businesses for the Tombola prizes, 3rd Bromley scouts for their tents, tug-of-war rope and expertise, and everyone else who helped out, who are too many to list!

We are delighted to announce that our councillors tell us that they will not allow the Education Funding Agency (EFA) to build on our park:

Nicola Dykes, one of our Ward Councillors, wrote “Due to considerable opposition from Bromley Town Councillors, local MP Bob Neill and the local community, the Council has informed the Education Funding Authority (EFA) that they will not lease them the land to build the school. Instead they are working with them to find an alternative site for the school which they are confident they will be able to do.

Many of the Friends of Havelock Rec met up on Valentine’s Day 2015 to make a heart in the rec.

Our park is the heart of our community, so we laid out a symbolic heart in the brickfield. We demonstrated how much, and how many of us care about our park. Despite the chilly weather, lots of people turned up to support the campaign.